The Thinkening Blog

As computer technology advances on, the old ways of doing certain things become increasingly inefficient, overly costly, or both. This is especially true of home phone service. With Internet access becoming more ubiquitous, it is possible to have ultra-inexpensive, high-quality home phone service without having to rely on the phone companies.

There is now a way to connect a regular home phone to your Internet router and use it to make free phone calls in the U.S. and Canada over the Internet. This is done using a device (LINK) that connects to a free Google Voice account through your router, and it also connects to a regular home phone in your house.

The idea behind this device is similar to Magic Jack (LINK), but in this case, there is no recurring annual fee for now. The device itself is a one-time purchase, cheaper than a Magic Jack, and Google Voice does not charge for its service during 2013. There may be a fee to use Google Voice next year or the year after, but it is almost certain to be far less than what you would pay for a single month of regular land line phone service, and probably will be less than the annual Magic Jack service charge. Like other Internet calling services, this device cannot be relied on to make emergency calls, but if you have a cell phone, you can use that to dial 911.